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Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to integrated wireless transit and emergency vehicle management systems. In particular, the present invention is directed to extending the capability of existing and future traffic preemption technologies to include automatic vehicle location (xe2x80x9cAVLxe2x80x9d), vehicle detection, remote traffic signal preemption, and remote access to transit and emergency vehicle information by integrating existing and future traffic preemption systems with geographical information system(s) (xe2x80x9cGISxe2x80x9d), mapping systems, central decision support system (xe2x80x9cDSSxe2x80x9d) for transit, database and data-warehousing, internet or intranet based data-warehousing, wireless hand held personal computers/organizers, and wireless cellular digital packet data (xe2x80x9cCDPDxe2x80x9d) through communication software protocol and application software interface (xe2x80x9cAPIxe2x80x9d) and methods allowing remote communication for transfer of vehicle command, identification, and control data to and from a plurality of field intersections sites to and from a centralized location. The AVL system can detect the location of transit or emergency vehicles as they approach the intersection. The range of detection in one particular application is approximately 2500 feet. This AVL method is easily and simply provided, and functionally equals multi-million dollar satellite-based GPS systems. In an exemplary embodiment, the system of the present invention has the ability to transfer the preemption and probe for emergency vehicles and predetermined transit vehicles as data reports to end users for viewing and further analysis.
Description of the Related Art including Information Disclosed under 37 C.F.R. 1.97 and 1.98
A search of the prior art located the following United States patents which are believed to be representative of the present state of the prior art: U.S. Pat. No. 6,275,991 B1, issued Aug. 14, 2001, U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,968, issued Sep. 21, 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,551, issued Sep. 28, 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,883, issued Nov. 2, 1999.
The primary traffic signal preemption system used today relies on optical emitter/receiver systems, such as the Opticom system marketed by 3M, or similar hardware. These systems typically provide two modes of operation, high priority and low priority. High priority is used for fire and emergency vehicles. High priority changes the red light to green and/or maintains green light for an extended period of time to allow sufficient time for the emergency vehicle to pass safely through the intersection. The low priority is used for transit vehicles, such as buses. Low priority extends the green light or reduces the time cycle for the red light; however, low priority does not change the red light to green immediately. In the low priority setting, there is a probe mode that only identifies the vehicle and does not effect the traffic controller in any manner.
These preemption systems consist generally of three components: (i) an emitter; (ii) a receiver; and (iii) a preemption card. The emitter generally resides onboard the vehicle and flashes in certain frequencies providing an optical or radio signal in three modes of high priority, low priority, and probe. The receiver resides on top of the intersection signal arms in the traffic intersection. The receiver receives the optical or radio signal transmitted by the emitter and the signal is transported by electrical wire to the traffic controller cabinet located at each intersection. The preemption card is located within the traffic controller cabinet and acts to change the traffic light and/or receive the probe signal.
Current traffic signal preemption data reside at the traffic intersection and are stored electronically on memory devices at each intersection. Presently, this information includes log number, date, start time, end time, duration, class, vehicle ID, channel, type of priority (low/high/probe), green time, final green, emitter""s intensity and preempt or not preempt. An example of this information is set forth in FIG. 6.
As specifically shown in FIG. 6 the time and date element is a function of setting up each traffic controller intersection and or setting up the preemption card""s time and date in the cabinet. Initialization can be obtained by use of a laptop computer to synchronize the time and date of the laptop with the preemption card. The time and date element is one of the most important elements of the preemption information. In case of transit, the location of the transit vehicle and its proximity to the intersection in reference to an accurate time and date are desired to insure the validity and accuracy of vehicle arrival prediction and vehicle location as the vehicle travels through different intersections, through multi-jurisdictions, and possibly through different preemption systems and traffic controller systems. In case of emergency vehicles all of the above is essential and, more importantly, in case of an accident at the intersection involving an emergency vehicle, the exact time and date is of outmost importance, as emergency vehicles change the traffic light to green in the desired direction of travel, and the traffic crossing the intersection could experience unexpected changes in the intersection control signals and become engaged in a serious traffic accident. If electrical power is lost to a traffic controller cabinet, the preemption cards revert back to the manufacturing date, for example Jan. 1, 1985. Also the time in these devices drift and due to multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional nature of the travel route, coordination of accurate timing among agencies has been almost impossible, or heretofore not even attempted. An embodiment of the present invention utilizes GPS time stamp on all data and detection along any route. The GPS time is provided in twenty-four hour, U.S. Military Standard Time which is extremely accurate and is a significant improvement in the system. The GPS time is part of the wireless modems utilized in an embodiment of the present invention, and the time is integrated into the data reporting and AVL.
To access this information, traffic control personnel need to physically access the traffic controller box, provide the necessary security and manual unlocking device to open the controller box, and retrieve the data through a serial connection and laptop computer. The information processed by the equipment at the intersection generally expires at the intersection soon after processing. Coordination of the intersection resident preemption data to centralized control centers has been attempted with little success. Collection of preemption data from intersection to intersection has been likewise unsuccessful, and proposed solutions are complex and costly.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide economical access to and distribution of traffic preemption data from a series of linked intersections within a defined traffic control grid.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide real time vehicle tracking and location capabilities for emergency vehicles and transit vehicles within a defined traffic control grid.
It is a further object of the present invention to convert the format of traffic intersection data and to then transmit the converted traffic intersection data via wireless modem to traffic control centers.
It is yet another object of the present invention provide real time arrival and departure forecasting for transit patrons.
It is another object of the present invention to improve on safety and management efficiencies of state-of-the-art traffic preemption systems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide emergency vehicle location and identification information along a defined and predetermined traffic flow corridor.
It is another object of the present invention to provide transit vehicle location and identification information along a defined and predetermined traffic flow corridor.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide real time wireless communication between traffic control centers and traffic intersections within a defined traffic grid.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide real time wireless communication between traffic control centers and selected emergency or transit vehicles within a defined traffic grid, so as to allow for automated intersection signal preemption consistent with the level of priority of each respective vehicle prior to arrival of the vehicle.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to use traffic intersection data within existing mapping and geographical informational systems (xe2x80x9cGISxe2x80x9d) software.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide real time GPS time stamps on all transmitted data and vehicle detection through the AVL system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide central DSS for transit priority.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide central DSS for emergency vehicles dispatch and control.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide database and data-warehousing applications to manage and analyze collected data.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide Internet or Intranet based data warehousing to manage and analyze data over the World Wide Web and/or agencies LAN.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide data and control over the wireless hand held personal computers/organizers.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an event alarm, such as detection of a transit or emergency vehicle at an intersection by routing the alarm message to an E-mail address, pager, cellular phone or a hand held computer over the World Wide Web.